Restorative Arlington Partners with Arlington Public Schools to Support Students and Strengthen Restorative Justice in Education

Restorative Arlington has partnered with Arlington Public Schools (APS) to support Restorative Justice in Education. Restorative Arlington has allocated over $140,000 to provide direct services to APS, including services for students who have experienced harm as well as restorative justice training for staff and additional resources. This funding will support three projects, including Healing and Safety Circles, Restorative Justice in Education Training, and Restorative Justice in Education Starter Kits. All three projects will be completed by June 30.

“These projects support the work that APS and Restorative Arlington have been engaged in over the last two years and they both strengthen our partnership and positively impact our school community’s efforts to adopt restorative justice in education,” said Dr. Francisco Durán, Superintendent, APS. Below are descriptions of each project:

• Healing and Safety Circles: Students who have been harmed in incidence(s) of violence in school, including during travel to or from school or school events are invited to register for the healing and safety circle. The purpose of these circles is to witness and understand the harm experienced by students in incidence of violence in school and to surface possible solutions to create safety for those students and their families. In this collaboration between APS and Restorative Arlington, students and, if they wish, their families will be offered a circle with APS personnel. These circles will last about 2.5 hours, and will require a pre-circle call with facilitators for preparation before the circle is scheduled. Circles will be facilitated by Sharrin Saintil, APS Student Climate Coordinator; Kimiko Lighty, Restorative Arlington Coordinator; and Yazid Jackson, a Restorative Justice Facilitator. All circles will take place by June 30. If you are interested in participating in a Healing and Safety circle, please complete this form by Friday, June 3rd at noon.
• Restorative Justice in Education (RJE) Training: This training provides support and technical assistance for operationalizing Restorative Justice Practices. Each APS secondary school will have the opportunity to tailor components of the training to fit the needs appropriate to building educators, administrators, and students. Participants include those APS educators and administrators interested in learning about restorative practices. RJE will be facilitated by Yazid Jackson, an experienced Restorative Justice Facilitator from Restorative DC (RDC) and his team. Jackson and this team work with both DC Public Schools and DC Public Charter Schools.
• Restorative Justice Starter Kits: Restorative Arlington will provide APS secondary school administrative teams, as well as trained administrative staff at Syphax with Restorative Justice Starter Kits to facilitate the implementation and practice of Circle Keeping and other relevant RJ activities as needed in the classroom. These kits would be composed of reference books most commonly used by Restorative Arlington staff, volunteer Facilitator and Circle Keepers, and partners

The terms Restorative Justice (RJ) and Restorative Practices (RP) refer to an approach and processes that deepen connections among people through intentionally inclusive practices that cultivate empathy, trust, and mutual respect. They support community members in handling conflict in potentially transformative ways while advancing equity through a framework that is deeply rooted in the understanding that we are all interconnected and we all have value.

You can learn more about Restorative Arlington online.

For additional information, contact Restorative Arlington Coordinator Kimiko Lighty, or Director of Administrative Services, Dr. Jeannette Allen, with questions or requests about any of these projects.